Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7 in just 30 min

There’s been a lot of press about how there isn’t a an upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7.  In this video, Jeremy walked me through using the latest beta of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, specifically the User State Migration Tool, to transfer the user settings and files from a Windows XP installation to a new install of Windows 7 on the same PC.

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One of the really cool features in this new version is hardlink migration.  In the past, if you wanted to back up all of a users files and settings, those had to be transferred to a different drive, and the new OS install would wipe the machine, complete the new install, and then you’d transfer the files back.  With hardlink migration, all the files stay in place on the machine, and the Win7 install just updates file locations with hardlinks.  This means the install and settings transfer happens much faster, because the files aren’t transferred at all, just the paths to them are updated.  It’s really cool, and means you can have a fresh install of Win7, with all your XP files and settings, completed in as few as 30 minutes.

The new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit beta can be found on http://connect.microsoft.com

Via Microsoft Technet

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